Peter King: 'I wouldn’t be shocked if Jon Gruden was the next coach of the Dallas Cowboys'

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It started three weeks ago with the hiring of defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin. Defensive line coach Rod Marinelli came next, followed by special teams coach Rich Bisaccia.

A string of three coaching hires in as many weeks, each with ties to the ’02 Tampa Bay Buccaneers squad that won Super Bowl XXXVII, has left plenty pondering if Cowboys owner Jerry Jones could be posturing himself for a run at Jon Gruden – the head coach of those ’02 Bucs – to be the next man to call the shots for the Cowboys.

It might sound crazy, but it’s not unthinkable to Sports Illustrated’s Peter King.

“I wouldn’t be shocked if Jon Gruden was the next coach of the Dallas Cowboys,” King said during an interview on KTCK-AM 1310 the Ticket this week.

The total overhaul of current head coach Jason Garrett’s staff coupled with his loss of playcalling duties – seen by some as a something of a demotion – has led to speculation that Garrett’s seat is getting warm. And while King said that Garrett “has his own future in his hands” and can save his job by winning 10 games next year, he didn’t dismiss the notion that Jones has had second thoughts about his coach.

“I do think that Jerry has had thoughts of changing coaches, and to me, Jon Gruden fits the whole ‘follow Jimmy with Switzer’ way,” King said. “I think Jon Gruden really fits the show biz thing that Jerry wants to do and the high-profile thing that Jerry would want to do. And I think that Jon Gruden fits Jerry Jones. But unless something really strange happens in the next few weeks, it won’t fit him now.”

For his part, Gruden has not actively pursued a head coaching job since leaving the NFL to become an analyst in 2008, but King seemed convinced that Gruden’s return to coaching was a foregone conclusion.

“This is a classic case of ‘I don’t care what Jon Gruden says,’ ” King said. “I know enough people that know Jon Gruden to know that they think he’s coaching again, and it’s not going to be very long before he’s coaching again.”